For you C(A)RAZY! Catholics out there — Page 2

Probably the most difficult Lenten sacrifice I imposed upon myself was the year I gave up HELLO, DOLLY! I took all my DOLLY! recordings, pictures--even my DOLLY doll and stored them in the choir's closet in church. It was the longest 40 days of my life!!!!!!! After the Easter Vigil mass, (which I attended in a tux) I took all my treasures out of that closet (Msgr Ryan was puzzled as to why I was proudly carrying the doll in my arms as I left the church) and came home to play all the recordings and eat tutti frutti ice cream. In a sense, it was a resurrection for me.

This year I will give up WILL AND GRACE--but carefully tape each episode so that after this year's Vigil Mass, I will play them all. In place of my weekly W&G episode, I'll do a half hour of spiritual reading. I specifically want to read about OTHER religions to gain a better understanding of how other people face thir spiritual needs.

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the 40 days of lent has been practiced pretty much as is since ad 360 (that's the first extent mention of the 40 day period). it has been since its inception a time of fasting. fasting being a voluntary abstinence imposed upon oneself as an expiation of sin. while the idea of fasting now brings to mind a glass of water and possibly some chicken stock as defined by webster's it is also "to eat very little or abstain from certain foods, especially as a religious discipline." that's pretty much what it means today after having been watered down over the centuries. but make no mistake about it, our giving up sweets or not eating meat on friday would be a paradise on earth for the early practitioners of lenten sacrifice. so let's just remember that this pittance we call a sacrifice today, that pittance that some catholics still deem too much to even consider, falls way down the ladder historically. but then, why deny yourself something if you can just as easily rationalize it away and do nothing.

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Just curious, did anyone ever realize that the time between Ash Wednesday and Easter isn't actually 40 days? Technically, the Church doesn't consider Sundays to be a part of Lent, so the Church will often approve of you doing whatever you gave up for Lent of Sundays....Sounds sorta like cheating to me.

I don't cheat on Sundays. I believe that it is BS and not sacrificing at all...of course everyone else I know binges on candy and alcohol on Sunday...*rolls eyes*

Ahhhh now I get it....and my religion teacher is a priest, so how come he didn't know that?

Not to veer off subject too much off subject here, but I just found out recently the Vatican is coming out with an abbreviated Catechism, 150 pages I believe. Isn't that crazy? How are they going to fit everything into 150 pages? (Someone suggested it'll be in Hebrew [no vowels])

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Have a fun Fat Tuesday everyone!

Rick, you're getting to be pretty disgusting!

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